Year 8

A few interesting links:

And some more about farmers mitigating against climate change and adapting to it:

http://lindym.wordpress.com/2010/05/27/sekem-farm-creates-organic-oasis-out-of-egyptian-desert/
http://lindym.wordpress.com/2010/05/20/australian-acacias-for-africa/
http://lindym.wordpress.com/2010/05/20/making-the-most-of-what-you-have/
http://lindym.wordpress.com/2010/03/31/cutting-cow-flatulence-with-garlic/
http://lindym.wordpress.com/2010/01/11/faidherbia-africas-fertiliser-factory/
http://lindym.wordpress.com/2009/08/28/the-super-tree/
http://lindym.wordpress.com/2008/09/09/how-to-make-cows-burp-less/

Year 9 Fragile Environment

22 May 2010
Example of scientific research: Towards the lower section between West and Est Antarctica is the Ross Ice Shelf. On the edge of it is the Scott Station run by New Zealand

They are about to carry out a 1000m deep ice core removal on the Ross ice Shelf. Why? Because, when there has been warming of the Antarctic before, it the Ross Ice Shelf that has become unstable. Previous research by New Zealand scientists has found that when the Ross Ice Shelf has disappeared in the past, West Antarctica became unstable and disintegrated. This can have a serious impact on sea level rise, says Ed Butler, science and information manager for Antarctica New Zealand. If the Ross Ice Shelf ceases to support the glaciers of the ice sheet behind it, the glaciers rush forward into the ocean, and if they melt it can contribute between 5m to 7m of sea-level rise.
It was with this in mind that research was planned to investigate the Ross Ice Shelf as an early warning system
Ice cores trap pockets of air and can be used to see what happened historically over many thousands of year to the climate and to Ross Ice shelf in particular.
If you want to find out in more detail what they are up to, look here:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/lifestyle/3727000/Slice-of-ice

Read at least http://www.coolantarctica.com/Travel/antarctica_travel_home.htm
and probably http://www.coolantarctica.com/Travel/antarctica_travel_2.htm
to see what it is like
Then take a look at one or 2 of these:
Nations set new tourism limits for Antarctica : read about it http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap_travel/20090418/ap_tr_ge/travel_brief_antarctica_tourism_1
or http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/090417/utravel/antarctica_tourism_1
or
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/-/1/hi/sci/tech/8005467.stm
- more about Antarctic tourism
http://kingdowngeogblog.blogspot.com/search/label/Antarctica is a great site - good stuff about Antarctica and tourism
Plus of course the recent law change talked about in class, http://lindym.wordpress.com/2010/06/03/coming-antarctic-season-201011-the-last-for-big-cruise-ships
Then decide whether you think Antarctic tourism ought to be stopped or whether it is such a special place that everyone ought to be able to go once - state your opinion and explain why

Lesson 6 - Tourism in the Antarctic
Link to the latest from the latest Antarctic treaty Conference

Classwork notes: